Worlds Apart
by Monster-outta-Hell
Summary: When two American transfer students show up at Hogwarts, they quickly manage to turn heads as well as turn the perceptions of Harry Potter and co. on their heads, what mayhem will result from a rebellious metalhead and a techno loving dork at Hogwarts?
1. Chapter 1: First Impressions

Disclaimer: I own nothing! No seriously though, I'm kinda broke, so I really don't own much besides my handy dandy notebook... The electronic variety.

A/N: Ok, well. I know I sort of abandoned my past two stories, and I'm hoping that I don't follow that form with this as well, seeing as I've always kinda had trouble following things through. I think it's called being sanguine or something, but whatever. Really gonna try and make this a good story, and hoping that it turns out well... Wish me luck? And R&R regardless of how harsh the criticisms may be, I'd prefer honesty to kindness. In terms of premise, the story takes place during his fifth year, and is slightly AU in the fact that all the events are much closer to modern times, in the story it is currently 2010. However, everything else up to this point has been canon.

Worlds Apart: First Impressions

Harry Potter was hardly the happiest of people at the moment, even as he, Ginny and Neville were searching for a reasonably empty compartment on the train that would, quite shortly, be taking him to his favorite place in the world. Despite the fact that he was finally free of all the anxiety and anticipation that he had held prior to his court date as well as the oppressive tyranny of his aunt and uncle, the stress and indignation still remained from both, and this was just compounded by the fact that he couldn't even sit with his two best friends on the long trainride ahead. Sighing exasperatedly as he followed Ginny, trying to avoid the rather clumsy steps of Neville, who was trailing behind him, his spirits were finally lifted when she seemed to find an empty, or at least sparesly occupied, compartment that they could use. However, his mild relief was quickly quashed when he peered inside the small space and observed their riding companion. Inside was a younger girl with exceedingly long, blonde hair, though this was hardly an obvious feature compared to the large glasses she wore upon her face, the... Eccentric radish earrings that hung from her earlobes or the fact that she had tucked her wand behind her ear, not unlike one might a pencil. She appeared to be reading a magazine and only looked up from it when Ginny offered a friendly greeting.

"Oh, hullo Ginny. How are you?" She said dreamily, as though her mind had not left the magaizne, which Harry noticed was upside down, as quickly as her eyes had. He tuned out the polite, if uninteresting that followed between the two as he and Neville put their luggage up and sat down. However he quickly looked up when he heard his name, however, safe in the knowledge that she was only introducing him, he returned to his thoughts, but not before hearing Neville try to avoid the conversation by saying he was 'nobody', for which which Ginny quickly scolded them. This relatively quiet ride continued for some time until they all were somewhat startled by a commotion in the hall. They stared curiously at the door, though they could see nothing on account of the blinds being closed, when they heard the angry and frustrated voice of Draco Malfoy emanting from the hall directly outside.

"Hey, shove off you two. What the bloody hell do you think you're doing anyway? Freaks!" There was a quickly following thud, as though something heavy had hit the compartment door and an unfamiliar voice replied indignantly,

"Screw you kid, what the hell do you need to be doing out here anyway?" Through the small slits between the blinds on the glass window of the door, they saw the shape of two boys stand up suddenly. Then a new voice chimed in to add to the first and continued,

"Yeah, seriously man, why don't you just go back to your freaking cabin, huh you little prick." But despite this, they appeared to move aside for Malfoy anyway, likely because of the menacing shadows of Crabbe and Goyle over Malfoy's shoulder. 'Hm, I guess trained gorillas are useful' Harry thought sarcastically to himself.

"Cabin? Where the hell are you dorks from? Whatever, I don't care, just get out of my way." Malfoy said arrogantly as he slid open the compartment door and looked in at Harry and the other people in the small space, sneering snidely. "Hey Potty! Decide to switch out the old posse of losers for an even more lame one, huh? Or did Weasle and the mudblood finally realize that they're friends with a nutter and ditch you?" The two boys over his shoulder laughed stupidly and Malfoy took the encouragement and continued, "I'm a prefect this year, so you'd better watch, hear that Potty? By the way, I found some real weirdos out here on the floor, figure they'd fit right in with you. See you... Scarface." And with that Malfoy and his two goons left down the hallway, laughing in quite possibly, at least in Harry's eyes, the most assinine manner possibly.

At the this, the taller of the two boys who were in the hallway, the one who had spoken first before shouted after Malfoy angrily, "Really! You bugged us just so you could fucking serenade your god damn boyfriend?" He proceeded to flip off the turned back of the trio and then turned to look inside and asked Harry curiously, "Why the hell did he compare you to Al Capone?" Harry gave the boy a confused look and then shook his head and asked politely,

"You wanna sit with us?" How could he not after the boy just insulted Malfoy as wonderfully as he had? The boy, as well as his somewhat shorter companion shrugged noncommitally and then pulled their luggage in and storing it above them and sitting down across from eachother.

It was only then that Harry got a real chance to look at them, and they certainly were odd. The shorter one was about 5'8" and had short, mildly curly light brown hair, though it was tinted with a tawny, sandy red. His sideburns, though hardly noticeable seemed slightly longer than normal for someone with his length of hair. His face seemed a little more round than usual and was clean shaven and his nose was a bit longer than most, though nothing too prominent. His eyes were a olive green, and above them were bushy black eyebrows. He wore a short sleeved white shirt with 'WTF?' on it in large bold letters, though the parts of the 'W' and the '?' were obscured by a partially zipped offwhite hoody with a small red emblem on the left side of the chest and a brass colored zipper. He wore light, faded and worn jeans with a minor tear on the left knee and beige trainers with white soles and laces. Over his shoulder was grey and black messenger bag, which seemed stuffed even though he had also brought a considerably large trunk that was now sitting above them.

The other boy was taller, standing at about Ron's height, though hardly as lanky. His hair was pitch black, and short on the sides than on the top, and it grew even longer the farther to the front one went, eventually reaching down to just past his eyebrows. His eyes were very dark, and they appeared black to Harry, it was impossible to tell where the iris ended and the pupil began, and it was slightly disconcerting. Framing his face were rectangular black, thick framed glasses. He, like his friend was mostly clean shaven, though there seemed to be an almost imperceptable hint of rough stubble on his face, closer perhaps to what one might call 3 o'clock shadow than 5 o'clock shadow. He left ear had two peircings, both helix peircings on the top of his ear, both black captive ball rings. He wore a black t-shirt depicting what appeared to be a space battle with spaceships reminiscent of the Star Wars star destroyers, the scene colored in bright blues and pinks, with the words 'The Black Dahlia Murder' across the top. Over this he wore an army green canvas military style jacket with the sleeves rolled up. Around his right wrist was a brown leather armband and a bracelet made of several leather strings woven together as well. On his left was a similar armband and a hemp bracelet with sevearl beads of various colors in it. His dark jeans, also worn and faded, though untorn, were held up by a grey belt, whose unsecured and frayed end fell a couple inches down his leg. His feet sported worn and somewhat dirtied converse chuck taylor hi-tops. He too had a bag, though his was a black single strap backpack which he had set on the floor at his feet, and this bag too appeared full.

The strange students looked at all of us and then the shorter of the two spoke carefully, "I believe introductions are in order? My name is Jon, Jon Hainsely. My friends call me Dexter... You can call me Jon." The taller one continued, "And I'm Ethan Roseman." He then looked at each of the Hogwarts students in turn as they introduced himself. When Luna introduced herself half-heartedly Ethan said something along the lines of 'oh you hipster', which elicited a snigger from the Jon kid, whi earned them both a glare from Ginny. Finally it was Harry's turn to introduce himself, and internally groaning and preparing himself for the questions, he regretfully introduced himself.

"Harry... Potter" However the resigned greeting didn't get quite the reaction he was expecting. Ethan gave him a quizzical look and after a moment said,

"Why do you say it like something unpleasant? I mean, the last time I heard someone talk like that was when Jon's uncle had to go in for a prostate exam." Jon meanwhile merely raised an eyebrow, though ahe did let a smirk slip when Ethan made the comment. Neville and Ginny seemed shocked by the pair's utterly underwhelming reactions, and under their jaw-dropped (literally) gaze, Ethan questioned them. "What? Why does that name sound familiar?" At this Jon actually spoke again.

"The boy-who-lived they call him. That ring any bells?" And then a look of realization dawned on Ethan as he said, "ohhhhh, the Voldemort kid, right? I suppose you're a big deal over here, aren't you?" After this he merely shrugged in response to the almost appalled look on Ginny's and Neville's faces, and their cringes in response to his use of the name. Neville then asked timidly,

"Do you even care about Vol- ... He-who-must-not-be-named at all?" Ethan then did the last thing any of them expected. He laughed.

"Not really. Especially considering he's dead. But to be honest, even if he WERE alive, he never really meant much to us in the States anyway, was never any kind of threat." So that explained why they seemed so strange, and ignorant of the boy-who-lived. They were Americans. But Harry now decided he had to interject at the dismissal of one of the strongest dark wizards ever to exist.

"Actually, he is alive... He returned last year. And how could he not be a threat to the United States too?" Harry actually sounded a bit offended that someone who struck such fear into every wizard in Europe seemed so laughable to these Americans.

"How? You mean besides that huge ass ocean in between there and here? Well, from what I've read, him and his death eaters wouldn't last very long over there. You Brits handled him wrong, back home they'd be dead in a week. Even though our Wizarding government prefers to take prisoners, there is pretty much a perpetual open season on any and all terrorists, and we aren't so averse to using things like unforgivables as you are. And we also happen to have a much more open relation with the muggle government, which certainly helps." Everyone, except Luna, who still seemed captivated by her upside down magazine, took on an expression of mild fear at his light-hearted mentioning of the unforgivable curses, but Harry took on a skeptical expression when the muggle government was mentioned.

And he wasn't the only one either. Ron, who it seemed had returned with Hermione shortly before and had decided to listen, gave a snort at this point and said humorously, "What good does that help? They can't really denial him into oblivion, can they?" Here Jon decided to take up the arguement.

"Like we said, we happen to have relatively open relations with the muggle government. Which means if need be, we have access to Guns. Lots and lots of guns. And lots of people who know how to use those guns very well. I don't care how good a wizard you are, you can't do much against someone whose using a round that can shatter a cinderblock from over a mile out. I could give you more examples of just how good at killing muggles are than I'd care to imagine, but from the look on your face, I think you already get the idea." Ron's face had paled at the idea, and he now stepped into the compartment without looking at anything in particular and managed to squeeze in next to Harry, making a conspicuous show of sitting on the opposite side of the black haired student as Ethan. Hermione also moved in, but she seemed to retain a skeptical attitude. She asked in her usual, questioning tone,

"Well if that's so effective why didn't we just do that, hmmm?" This time, it seemed it was Ethan's turn to answer and Hermione turned to look at him when he spoke.

"Well, because you Ministry is rather narrow-minded when it comes to muggle relations and technology and our government, in simplest terms, couldn't give a fuck." Even Hermione seemed taken aback and speechless, not only because of his vulgarity but also simply because of what he had said. Deciding to change the conversation before things got any more uncomfortable, Ginny asked as Hermione also squeezed into a seat as well,

"So, what brings you here all the way from America?" Seemingly just as eager to steer the conversation in a different direction as Ginny was, Jon smiled. "A transfer program. We were half pressed into it, as our headmaster thought it would be a 'good experience' for Ethan, and I got dragged along. But it'll also be nice to see how you guys run things over here in Europe and get away, ya know?'

Hermione jumped into the conversation now too, eager to question the foreign students. "So, you're Americans? I'm assuming you're coming from the school in Salem?" However, her smile quickly turned into a frown when she was answered with a quick and simple 'nope'. "Then where from?" she inquired curiously.

"A small boarding school in northern Washington. God knows why the hell it'd be in Washinton... Scratch that, why anything would be in Washington, but whatever. Northwestern Scholastic and Magical Academy. Also known as the Northwestern Academy of Why the fuck is it raining so much and get me the hell away from Seattle and out of Washington." Ethan replied jovially, faking frustration. The conversation continued like this for some time, the Hogwarts students (ok, mainly Hermione) bouncing questions at the Americans and the Americans responding.

Finally Hermione looked up and out the window and said surprisedly, "Oh my, I think we're going to be there soon. Sorry, I must've talked your ears off." She grew pink with embarassment at this and then averted her eyes downward to try and avoid the awkwardness she felt now.

Soon the train pulled up to the station, and Harry, Hermione and Ron continued with Neville, Ginny and Luna to the carriages, though they lost the Americans in the confusion of the platform. "Not that I'm to bothered by that." Hermione said stiffly when Neville pointed this out.

"Why you so hostile 'Mione?" Ron asked curiously, looking at her questioningly.

"I don't like them, they seem like unpleasant individuals. Especially the one in the jacket, he swore too much, and did you see his shirt?" She said, making a disgusted face at the end.

"Yeah, what about it?" Harry asked, wondering why she seemed so offended. She looked at him, shocked, then replied,

"It said 'The Black Dahlia Murder'. Do you know what that was?" At their blank looks she explained, "It was particularly brutal murder in the mid 20th century. The poor girl had her face cut open and was sliced in half." Nodding at the horrified looks that came over their faces at this she kept her grim expression and walked towards the carriages. Ron looked at Harry weakly and he said, the sickly look on his face extending to his voice as well,

"Well, at least they'll keep the Slytherins away from us, no way they're going anywhere else."

A/N: Well, there it is. Once again, thank you, R&R. :)


	2. Chapter 2: Wait, What?

Disclaimer: insert disclaimer here

A/N: Another update, even without reviews. I'm so nice. :P Though I don't suppose I have any fans that I'm being nice to just yet, do I? Um... That's pretty much all I've got to say actually. xD

Worlds Apart: Wait, What?

As the Golden trio entered the Great Hall, Harry seemed lost, bumping into the occasional student as he walked towards Gryffindor table. When they were seated Ron nudged his irritantly and said, "Look mate, is what happened at the carriages _STILL_ bugging you?" Harry looked back at him and confidently replied,

"I know what I saw Ron. I don't know why you couldn't, but they were there." Ron merely rolled his eyes and proceeded to complain about how long the sorting process took and how he could really use some food. As they did every year, soon a mob of first-years appeared and walked towards the front of the Great Hall for sorting. It went by rather quickly for Harry, who wasn't really all that interested until Dumbledore stood up.

"Now, before you can all dig into our wonderful Hogwarts food, I'd like to introduce two more students who must be sorted." When the students seemed sufficiently confused he continued, "They are exchange students from America, so I'd like all you to be hospitable and give them a good representation of the Wizarding community here." He said it innocently enough, but he kept that twinkle in his eye that said a bit more than just 'be nice'. He wanted the Americans to think highly og Hogwarts by the time that they were gone. Some students took the news shocked and started whispering among themselves excitedly. However, others like Fred, George, Lee Jordan and also Malfoy began to grin wickedly at the thoughts of how they could give a 'good representation of the wizarding community', which no doubt caused Dumbledore to shudder internally at the thought.

Harry personally, and no doubt everyone else in the Great Hall, was now watching the Amercians carefully and intently. First to step up towards the sorting hat was Jon, though now in a Hogwarts uniform, when McGonagall called his name out. After lazily putting on the hat, though he didn't bother to sit on the small stool, he waited. After only a moments hesitation, they hat called out "RAVENCLAW!" and the boy's uniform immediately took on the blue of the house. Removing the hat he walked over to the Ravenclaw table and was greeted enthusiastically, perhaps more so than usual, by the other members of his newly chosen house.

Next was Ethan, who everyone who had ridden with the Americans expected to be put in Slytherin. When his name was called, he stepped up to the hat. Cracking his knuckles loudly in mock prepartation he picked the hat up and sat down on the ridiculously small stool, making sure to make as much of an ordeal out of the act as possible. Some of the girls giggled at his antics, but besides Harry, Hermione only glared. Finally pulling the hat over his head, he waited. He really did look somewhat humorous as he tried to squeeze as much of himself onto the chair as possible, his knees high though his feet touched the floor, giving the appearance that he was almost squating. The hat took some time to speak, and when it finally did, the answer shocked Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville.

"GRYFFINDOR!" He stood up as the colors on his uniform turned to the ostentatious red and gold, and setting the hat back down he walked over to the Gryffindor table, amongst an uproar of cheering and applause. Hermione's face more than anyone's showed disbelief and Ethan seemed to notice as he glanced at her and sat down a couple seats down. As Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan and a few other boys Harry did not recognize him surrounded him, patting him on the back and bombarding him with questions, Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at eachother curiously and started talking in low voices.

"What was the sorting hat thinking?" Hermione hissed angrily, and Ron replied questioningly.

"Maybe there's more to all that than we're seeing. Who knows, maybe we ought to give the bloke a chance. Afterall, he is a Gryffindor..." Harry nodded in agreement with this and Neville piped in at this, saying nervously,

"Maybe you guys are right and we're judging him a bit early, but there's something about him that's different still. I'm not sure if he's bad but he just seems... You know?" Hermione looked at him quizically and Ron simply rolled his eyes but Harry nodded understandingly and gave Neville a weak attempt at a smile. Harry looked down, and Dean and Seamus seemed to like him well enough, and he knew them to be cool guys. Perhaps Hermione was just overreacting after all? It seemed as though their conversation had caused them to miss a short speech but one of the new teachers, the new DADA teacher, though they caught from the Dumbledore that her name was 'Umbridge' and she looked downright unpleasant from where they were sitting.

At long last Dumbledore allowed the feast to begin, and the tables of the Great Hall were finally filled with food. Harry one again looked down at the exchange student and saw something that he had not been able to take in stride. This. Ron muttered a grateful "Finally" for the chance to eat, but he was spoken over by a loud voice from down the table. It seemed that Ethan enjoyed food just as much as Ron, as he had loudly proclaimed

"OH MY GOD YES!" when his mind had finally recovered from the shock of what he was seeing and he was already stuffing food into his face. It seemed to Harry that he only put it on his plate just long enough to give the appearance that he wasn't eating straight from the dishes before it was dumped into the cavernous maw that had previously been a mouth. Glancing over at Ron he was exasperated to find that Ron seemed to consider this a challenge, no doubt he though his ungodly appetite one of the few things he had over others and wanted to retain that reputation. Hermione apparently noticed too as she let out a mild snort of disgust and looked down at her own food, retaining a more civil manner of eating.

Harry came to the conclusion that a Ron in competitions was even more repulsive than Ron during a normal meal, and seeing him so determined to shovel food into himself at record-breaking speed and in unprecedented amounts was mildly frightening actually. However, after nearly five minutes of this even he was nearing a full stomach, though Harry was amazed he had managed to fit that much inside of himself. Looking down to see if Ethan looked as ready to throw up as Ron was Harry almost fell off the bench. The boy was still GOING! How was this even possible, especially at the inhuman rate at which he seemed to be literally inhaling the food (quite literally in the case of the pudding and anything of a similar consistency)? In addition, he seemed to have reserved an entire jug of pumpkin juice to himself and appeared to have gone through more than half of it single-handedly. The students around him looked on, fascinated and seemed torn between amazement and disgust. Seamus looked as though he was about to vomit and Dean was laughing hysterically and cheering him on enthusiastically.

Deciding he ought to look away before he was sick all over the food in front of him, Harry turned and spotted the other exchanged student, Jon, at the Ravenclaw seemed that, despite having been sitting with mixed company when he first took his place at the table, he was now utterly surrounded by girls. Adding to this both amazing and perplexing sight, he saw not only Cho, but also that Luna Lovegood girl, though seemed more to have gotten there by accident and was perfectly content to merely sit there as opposed to make conversation.

As the filling (more for some than for others) meal was finished, each house emptied the Great Hall and traveled to their respective common rooms. And as Harry, Ron and Hermione walked up the stairs looking curiously at the dark haired boy ahead of them that was eagerly conversing with Dean, Seamus and now even Neville, they couldn't help but wonder what this year would be like with him here at the school.


End file.
